Cotton Club, The Film

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Aug 14, 2012
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I just saw this film for the first time since 1984 when it was released. The TV version was censored just a little. This film was cast in 1982 when I had a new actor's headshot photo studio in Manhattan. Things were slow, but when they cast Cotton Club they needed hundreds of people. My studio got very busy. One of my actors even had a small role; Vincent Gerosa played Cagney. It is dripping with talent. Especially the dancers, but the actors and musicians were great too. Richard Gere was the lead, and the weakest actor in the film. He got much better later in his career. He did play his own cornet, and did it surprisingly well. But it looked like a trumpet to me. The best line was from Julian Beck, of the Living Theater. "I didn't have a mother. They found me in a garbage can." The gangster Dutch Schultz, well played by James Remar, had a model J Duesenberg, one of the greatest cars ever made. Except the J wasn't made until 1929 and the film started a year or two earlier. The Duesie cost about $25,000. Only celebrities and the very wealthy could afford them. Gary Cooper and Clark Gable drove them. Today a good Duesenberg is worth up to $10,000,000. Extraordinary performances by Bob Hoskins, Fred Gwynne and Gregory Hines. Diane Lane was good in the film, but she was more attractive 15-20 years later. The Hines brothers played the Nicholas brothers, two great tap dancers of the era.

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
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Carmel Valley, CA
Foggy- Netflix, Amazon, DIRECTV®?
Oddly, I was to be an extra in that film, but don't know if I ended up on the floor (of the cutting room) or just didn't look close enough when I saw the film on its release.
PS Is it possible that some of the movie was shot well before its release in 1984?

 
Aug 14, 2012
2,872
123
I am sure they were casting in August of 1982, so it was probably shot in late '82 and '83. Did I do your picture?

 

mortonbriar

Lifer
Oct 25, 2013
2,653
5,663
New Zealand
August of '82 I was a newborn! I will check it out, I generally like Francis Ford movies...

Concerning the model J Duesenberg, I had a coffee mug my whole childhood with that car on it and a few facts about it. When I am visiting my parents I always drink my tea in it.
Isaac

 

jpmcwjr

Moderator
Staff member
May 12, 2015
24,570
27,079
Carmel Valley, CA
I am sure they were casting in August of 1982, so it was probably shot in late '82 and '83. Did I do your picture?
No, I was an extra extra. Ballroom type dancing, and I am not sure that the whole scene was cut. I think it was filmed at The Plaza or Waldorf, not at the stage of the Cotton Club.

 

wyfbane

Lifer
Apr 26, 2013
5,117
3,517
Tennessee
I was just mentioning yesterday what a great actor (and dancer) Gregory Hines was.
The Cotton Club was a terrific film.

 

condorlover1

Lifer
Dec 22, 2013
7,995
26,613
New York
I used to live very close to where Arthur Flegenheimer aka Dutch Schultz was born in the UES of NY. An absolute mad man by all accounts.

 
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